LEWISTON — Maine Campus Compact celebrated its 19th annual Awards Ceremony virtually on April 30 to recognize outstanding work in public service and civic engagement by Maine faculty, students, campus organizations and community and corporate partners. During these unprecedented times, award recipients’ positive impacts on campuses and in communities throughout the state reinforce the importance of the public purposes of higher education.

The Community Partner of the Year Award recognizes an outstanding community partner organization and its staff for their exemplary partnership with an MCC member institution. The recipient was the Good Shepherd Food Bank’s Child Hunger Team.

The Child Hunger Team’s support of Kennebec Valley Community College students in the area of addressing food insecurity has made GSFB an outstanding community partner. The partnership and collaboration with the Good Shepherd Food Bank has helped KVCC raise awareness about the staggering burden of food insecurity and evidenced-based measures to build a strong KVCC Food Pantry that is both sustainable and relevant to the needs of a predominantly rural low-income student population.

Established in 1994, Maine Campus Compact is a coalition of 18 member campuses whose purpose is to catalyze and lead a movement to reinvigorate the public purposes and civic mission of higher education. For more information, visit http://mainecompact.org/.